Banks, insurance firms to work as usual in new guidelines for Lockdown 2.0

The government on Wednesday said important financial services like banking and insurance will continue to function during the lockdown period to help people meet their financial needs.

This comes as fresh guidelines for the second phase of the lockdown, which will be in effect till May 3.

"To mitigate hardship to the public, select additional activities have been allowed which will come into effect from 20th April. 2020. These limited exemptions will be operationalized by states/UTs / district administrations based on strict compliance to the existing guidelines," the MHA directive noted.

As per the revised guidelines, IT vendors for banking operations, banking correspondents, ATM operations and cash management agencies will also be functional.

Bank branches are allowed to work as per normal working hours till disbursal of DBT cash transfers are complete, it said, adding, local administration is to provide adequate security personnel at bank branches and for banking correspondents to maintain social distancing and staggering of account holders.

"The important components of the financial sector, e.g., RBI, banks, ATMs, capital and debt markets as notified by SEBI and insurance companies will also remain functional, with a view to provide enough liquidity and credit support to the industrial sectors," the consolidated revised guidelines issued by the Home Ministry said.
 

The local administration has to ensure that there is adequate security personnel at bank branches to maintain social distancing and law and order.

Read: MHA new guidelines for lockdown 2.0: Here is the list of activties that are allowed from April 20

Workplaces shall have a gap of one hour between shifts and will stagger the lunch breaks of staff, to ensure social distancing, while mandatory thermal scanning of everyone entering and exiting the workplace to be done. 

Direct Benefit Transfer(DBT) to the poor and vulnerable section of society, hit hard by the coronavirus outbreak and the consequent lockdown, is providing financial support for sustaining during these difficult times.

It further said the digital economy is critical to the services sector and is important for national growth. Accordingly, e-commerce operations, operations of IT and IT enabled services, data and call centres for government activities, and online teaching and distance learning are all permitted activities now.

The revised consolidated guidelines are aimed at operating those sectors of the economy which are critical from the perspective of rural and agricultural development and job creation, while maintaining strict protocols in areas where safety is paramount to contain the spread of COVID-19 in the country, it added.

As per the revised guidelines, IT vendors for banking operations, banking correspondents, ATM operations and cash management agencies will also be functional.